insider preview

Microsoft has pushed the first public preview build of Windows 11 for 2026 into the Insider channels, and at its centre is a focused set of fixes and experiments for File Explorer — including an optional background preload and a reorganized right‑click menu — alongside a handful of other quality...

Microsoft is rolling out Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7535 (KB5072046) to the Dev and Beta Channels, a mid-January flight that packs targeted accessibility upgrades, new enterprise policy controls for Copilot, an expanded developer integration path for cross‑device continuity, a subtle...

Microsoft appears to be testing a deeper Copilot integration inside File Explorer — not merely another right‑click shortcut, but a docked, chat‑style Copilot experience that can be attached to the Explorer window and detached into its own pane or window. Hidden strings and UI references in...

A new, faint UI cue in a Windows 11 Insider build suggests Microsoft is testing a tighter Copilot tie‑in inside File Explorer — an invisible button that appears when you hover over a blank spot in the navigation bar and which, according to strings found in preview code, may be labeled "Chat with...

Microsoft has quietly pushed a set of targeted changes to Windows 11 that aim to reduce the memory cost of file searches and make File Explorer feel faster — but the gains are pragmatic and limited, and they come against a backdrop of surging memory prices and growing pressure on system...

Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 Insider preview adds a deceptively small but immediately useful convenience: a one‑click way to search text you’ve just copied by clicking a transient “paste gleam” in the taskbar Search box. Background Microsoft delivered the experiment as part of the KB5067109...

Windows 11’s dark theme has hit another visible milestone: the classic Run dialog and the long-neglected Folder Options panel are now being rendered in Dark mode in recent Insider preview builds, closing a glaring visual inconsistency that has frustrated dark‑theme users for years. This change...

Microsoft’s quiet, surgical tweaks to Windows 11’s search plumbing and December’s steady stream of Microsoft Teams feature updates together illustrate a familiar pattern: incremental under‑the‑hood improvements and targeted collaboration features are being rolled out with telemetry and staged...

Microsoft’s latest Insider build promises a tangible speed-up for File Explorer by trimming redundant work from Windows’ search indexer — a focused engineering change that should deliver faster searches and lower transient RAM/CPU use for many real-world scenarios. Background File Explorer has...

Microsoft has quietly changed how Windows 11 indexes files so that File Explorer no longer re-processes the same paths repeatedly — a tidy under‑the‑hood tweak that Microsoft says will make Explorer searches faster and use less RAM, and which first appeared in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build...

Microsoft's latest Insider preview build for Windows 11 brings a surgical but welcome optimization to File Explorer’s search pipeline that promises to shave RAM, CPU, and disk spikes during wide file searches — a change that arrives just as administrators and everyday users are still reeling...

Microsoft has pushed a matched Insider preview—Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7523 (KB5072043)—to both the Dev and Beta channels, packaging a focused set of AI-first experiences, accessibility refinements, File Explorer reliability work, and a raft of bug fixes and known issues that...

Microsoft’s latest Insider work on File Explorer is unglamorous but consequential: engineers have pushed a targeted change to the Windows Search indexer that stops duplicate file indexing operations, and that optimization — tested in the Windows 11 Insider Preview 26220 stream — is already...

Microsoft says a small but practical change to File Explorer’s search pipeline in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7523 should reduce redundant work in the indexer, leading to faster searches and lower transient RAM use when hunting for files across multiple folders and drives. Background...

Microsoft has quietly trimmed one of File Explorer’s little-known inefficiencies: in the latest Insider preview stream, Windows 11’s File Explorer now avoids redundant work inside the Windows Search indexer so searches can run with less memory and I/O overhead. Background / Overview File...

Microsoft has quietly reduced the RAM tax on File Explorer search by instructing the Windows Search indexer to stop doing redundant work — an Insider preview change in the 26220 series that Microsoft describes as “eliminating duplicate file indexing operations,” and which promises faster...

Microsoft is quietly tuning File Explorer’s search plumbing in Windows 11 to do less redundant work — an Insider-preview change that removes duplicate file indexing operations inside the Windows Search Indexer, promising faster searches and lower system resource use during file operations on...

Microsoft is quietly testing a modernized Run dialog for Windows 11 that replaces the decades‑old Win32 pop‑up with a Fluent‑style overlay, and while it isn’t yet enabled for everyone, Insiders can opt in — or force the feature on — in preview builds that include the KB5072043 update. Background...

Every fresh Windows 11 installation ships with a grab bag of first‑party apps—some genuinely useful, some quietly redundant, and a handful that feel like marketing dressed up as convenience—and ZDNet’s pragmatic “11 I keep / 11 I ditch” checklist is one of the clearest, user‑centric guides for...

Microsoft’s long-serving Run box is getting a modern makeover in Insider preview builds of Windows 11 — but for now the experience is strictly optional and intended to live alongside the legacy Win32 Run rather than forcibly replace it. Background / Overview The Run dialog (Win+R) has been a...